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Some called him Az’kerash. Others, quite few now, remembered the past and called him Perril Chandler. No one living or dead remembered to call him by the nickname even he had forgotten, Peril. And those who spoke of him usually didn’t even bother with ‘Az’kerash’. They called him the Necromancer. He cared not. He cared […]

The Stone Spears Tribe was not the largest Gnoll tribe in the southern half of the continent of Izril, nor the wealthiest or most powerful, not by far. They occupied the northernmost lands below the Blood Fields, and mainly roamed the rocky slopes close to the mountain range that separated the continent in two. It […]

The Gold Stone Tribe was mobilized and marching towards a gathering point just outside the High Passes as the sun reached the midway point in the sky. The Chieftain looked up, but declined to increase their pace. They were moving fast enough already, and they had many miles to go. They were going towards a […]

Perhaps it’s just as well the gods are dead. Because as I hold a dying child in my arms, I can’t believe in anything greater. Not God, not heaven— Certainly not myself. I’ve always been a failure. It eats at me in the dark times and my happy moments. Before, I had medicine to stop […]

Do you wanna hear a funny joke? Okay. Here it is. ‘A fat guy appears in a fantasy world and decides to become a [Clown].’ …I’m still working on the punch line. It’s the only joke I’ve got, though. I try to be funny, but really, I’m a [Clown]. I’m not actually sure we’re meant […]

Selys sat in her guild and desperately scribbled in the guestbook she’d borrowed from Erin. She had so many new adventurers flooding in to the guild recently, she thought she’d never get all the entries done and organized. That was the thing not many people realized about adventuring. Sure, being able to hack apart a […]

She was dying. Lyonette du Marquin registered this fact with bitter acceptance. She lay in the snow and knew it. She’d stopped moving. Lyonette knew she should keep moving, keep walking, but she was too tired. The biting, painful cold had stopped a while ago, and now she was feeling almost warm. But she was […]

Toren took his sword and rammed it a few times into the snow. Yes. That felt…good. If anything could feel good, that was. Toren only knew that using a sword felt natural to him, just like he was happier to be called ‘he’ rather than ‘it’ or ‘thing’. Was it because Erin had named him? […]

Erin sat in her inn, covering her face. But when she took her hands away, the flowers were still there. Flowers, instead of gold. It was…well, the thing was… She should have seen it coming. Erin realized that in the obvious clarity of hindsight. Why would a bunch of tiny faeries be carrying around a […]

When Gazi saw the castle’s spires in the distance, she knew she was close to her destination. She had travelled long and far across these arid lands, alone, tired, wounded and hungry. But she had never slowed her pace, barely paused to rest. She was nearly home. The city was much as Gazi had remembered […]

She sat on a grassy hilltop and slowly picked a fuzzy dandelion. Seeds scattered in the wind and she gently raised it to her face to blow the rest into the air. Caught by the breeze, the seeds scattered across the grassy landscape. Below Erin, the white clusters of dandelions stood out among the grass. […]

When Ryoka finished her run, she found Erin and Olesm sitting around the chessboard, discussing chess. She, Val, and Hawk stopped to watch the two. If running was their world, Erin and Olesm belonged to the silent, mystifying world of chess. It reminded Ryoka a bit of religion, only instead of an altar or text, […]

The King of Goblins rode through burning fields and across battlefields filled with death and ash. Blood ran from his sword and the dead grew in heaps and mounds tall as mountains. He roared, and a hundred thousand Goblins in his vanguard rose to follow. His armies swept across the land, burning, pillaging. Killing. No […]

Erin woke up with a huge smile on her face. Today was the first day of the rest of her life, and for once, it was all amazing. Slightly less amazing was the huge mess in her common room. Erin’s huge smile reduced in diameter, but she maintained a cheery outlook. True, her inn was […]

She was a Queen, and he was not. In theory, that meant that he would obey her every whim. But theory is a poor substitute for reality, and the Antinium had long ago learned that a single entity could not be trusted to make the best choice every time. So the position of Prognugator had […]

There’s an art to it. Like all things, tact is essential. A smile is important, because your first impression is probably your last. Always remember to be courteous, professional, and efficient. I can do that last bit. For the rest…I’m working on it. “Delivery.” The blue-haired girl who opens the door blinks at me. I […]

*Warning. If you don’t like descriptions of genitalia or sex or anything of that nature, please don’t read this story. This is a Patreon side story which isn’t chronologically linked to the same part in the plot as current chapters.*   “You have not had sex yet. This is a bad thing, yes?” Erin paused […]

Rags wondered if today was the day she would die. It seemed like she asked herself that question every day. But never did she wonder if she was being paranoid. Because someday she would die. The only question was: was it now? The young Goblin didn’t know. She only knew that if her death was […]

There were worse things to eat for breakfast than cold hamburger. That was what Erin told herself as she mechanically chewed and swallowed. For instance there were…rats. She could be eating rats. Or—or nothing. That was even worse to eat because it was nothing. Erin didn’t do well with cold mornings. She was like a […]

Because it was magic, they were able to talk to each other despite being far apart. Over four hundred miles separated the two, but to Lady Magnolia and Teriarch, their conversation felt as if they were sitting side by side. If he closed his eyes, Teriarch could imagine Magnolia sitting by him. Not the older, […]

It was all gone. All over. The Wandering Inn was finished. Erin stared at what had been her inn and saw the writing on the wall. Actually, she didn’t. Because there was no wall. Nearly half of her inn had been blown outwards by the explosion. Walls, floorboards—even parts of the roof had been shredded […]

“…know that I am the truth. Hear my words…obey…! Rise once more, from the darkness…!”   Even now Toren heard the voice in the silence. But he’d forgotten the words. They called to him in the darkness of his soul, pulling him towards the south. But his feet could not move, and though he looked […]

When Erin woke up, it was so cold that it hurt. She was inside her inn when she opened her eyes and nearly screamed from the sudden pain of the cold. Not buried under snow, although that was her first thought. No; she and Pisces had been rescued and the snow melted yesterday. But she […]

I had at least eight blisters by the time I ran through the gates of Celum, nearly two days later. I blame myself, really. Running in ill-fitting boots is about the stupidest thing you can do to your feet—aside from running barefoot in the snow, that is. Yep. That’s me. Ryoka Griffin, not-so-barefoot Runner. You’d […]